BERLIN — Usain Bolt proved again he races in a world of his own, winning a huge matchup against Tyson Gay in a world record time of 9.58 seconds Sunday at the world championships.

Running full-out in ideal conditions and against the toughest competition possible for the first time in his 22 years, Bolt blew away his own world record by a massive .11 seconds and made Gay seem like a laggard despite setting a U.S. record of 9.71 seconds.

It was the biggest increase in the record since electronic time was introduced in 1968.

Asafa Powell of Jamaica took bronze in 9.84.

In Beijing, Bolt was breezing after 70 meters, but on the deep indigo blue track in Berlin, Gay pushed him as far as he could. To no avail.

Gay stayed with him over the first part but once Bolt unfurled that huge stride of his, there was no contest.

"Awesome," Powell said.

Bolt glanced quickly to his right at 90 meters to check on Gay, then left, at the scoreboard, as he crossed the line and then pounded his chest when he saw the record time flash up.

Troubled by a nagging groin pain, Gay had to cut practice on his start and it showed. He needed to get out the fastest by far but was never able to shake the Olympic champion.

"I put everything into it. But I came in second," Gay said. "I can definitely run faster."

If Bolt had already strutted his confidence by playacting for hours ahead of race, the fact that he never saw Gay ahead of him early on boosted him even more.

The 55,000 strong crowd at the Olympic Stadium roared its delight at the end of most anticipated race since the Olympics.

The record time was hard to believe even with Bolt's knack of doing the unbelievable.

He grabbed a flag, hugged Powell, with whom he had been literally shadowboxing for fun just before the start. They wrapped themselves in the Jamaican flag, and it looked like the Bird's Nest all over again.

Staying true to his showmanship, he reached out to enraptured fans, trying to get a grasp how instant sporting history physically feels.

Ahead of that race, the Jamaican and American women got their own sprint rivalry going.

Kerron Stewart ran 10.92 in the 100 for the best time, leading a Jamaican team effort which placed three of their runners in the top four. Carmelita Jeter of the United States was the only one able to split the trio, running 10.94 for second place.

The final is set for Monday.

Overall, Jamaica won five of six sprint titles at the Beijing Olympics and left the U.S. team without a single gold. Now, the Americans want to become the top nation again.

With most people centred on the sprints, Russia became the first nation with double gold when Olympic champion Olga Kaniskina of Russia won the women's 20-kilometre walk, defending her world championship title from two years ago.

Olympic champion Valeriy Borchin of Russia took gold in the men's 20k walk on Saturday.

Kaniskina was little troubled by the beating sun and temperatures hovering around 30C. She took an early lead, and with her smooth, gliding style, never looked back before celebrating another gold under the famous Brandenburg Gate.

Jessica Ennis won the heptathlon, leading the seven-discipline event from start to finish. Valerie Vili of New Zealand won the women's shot put.

In early qualifying Sunday, defending 800 champion Janeth Jepkosgei crashed but won an appeal to overturn her elimination.

In the first heat of qualifying, Jepkosgei tangled with Caster Semenya of South Africa and fell. She got up again, but finished seventh and last in her race.

Semenya, the top performer of the season, injured her ankle in the incident and said she was uncertain to continue.

Jepkosgei, Semenya and Olympic champion Pamela Jelimo are favoured to be among the medallists in Wednesday's final.